A Shadow so Wicked by Mia Hartson

 A Shadow so Wicked 

by Mia Hartson

My Rating: 🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Spice Rating: 🌶🌶🌶

Blurb:

Welcome to the graduation games at Shadowbone Academy.

So I survived the hunt. Barely. And now we have weeks to prepare for the graduation games. As the war grows deadlier in the shadow realm, the queen will have more soldiers for her army, no matter the cost.

Don't get me wrong, immortality sounds pretty great, but I'm enough of a realist to know my chances of winning the games? Yeah, they're not looking so great.

On the plus side, my mates are starting to see how amazing I am, and I finally have some more allies, but as my past begins to unravel, old wounds rising to the surface, I start to realize regaining my memories might just be a matter of life and death. Something bad is happening in the academy, and somehow, I'm right in the middle of it.

As students continue to disappear, it becomes clear there are enemies within the academy walls, and I might just be the only one who can stop them. You know, if I don't lose my life first.

Looks like there are more fun times ahead.

A Shadow So Wicked is a fun but dark(ish) why choose fantasy romance novel, and the second book in the Fated Mates of Shadowbone Academy series. It features a clumsy, relatable heroine, and her droolworthy, fated mates who will do anything to protect her. The story is in first person, present tense, and note that while the main focus is on our leading lady, there is also MM in the harem.

This series is connected to the Game of Psychos series, but can easily be read as a standalone series. For a full list of content warnings, please visit the author's website.

My Review:

I don’t know what kind of dark magic Mia Hartman laced into this sequel, but once I opened it, productivity for the day was officially cancelled. Sleep? Optional. Responsibilities? Ignored. This book had me in a chokehold from page one.

We dive straight back into the chaos where the first installment left us, no gentle easing in, no mercy. And can I just say… watching certain characters finally get their long-overdue karma? Chef’s kiss. It was the kind of justice that makes you want to reread the scene immediately just to savor it again. For at least one of them, it was deeply satisfying.

The mystery surrounding the missing students finally starts to unravel in meaningful ways, which I appreciated so much. We’re not just circling questions anymore, we’re getting answers. But of course, this series refuses to hand over everything neatly tied with a bow. The Queen of Shadows remains one giant, morally murky question mark. Is she playing the villain for the “greater good,” or is she simply unhinged with a crown? Her decisions range from suspicious to absolutely appalling, and I still don’t know where I land on her. Honestly, that tension makes her even more compelling.

Then there’s Shade.

After barely surviving the Hunt, she’s thrown toward the brutal Graduation Games, and somehow the stakes feel even higher. What I loved most in this book is how much she grows without losing herself. She’s still sarcastic, still sharp, still unwilling to bow to nonsense. But she’s also more focused. The training becomes real to her. The danger becomes personal. And yet, she refuses to let the academy’s cruelty harden her into something she’s not.

Her moral compass actually strengthens here, which I found refreshing. She questions her mates. She questions the queen. She questions the system. And she does it without losing that biting humor that makes her so fun to read. Watching her reclaim pieces of her memory and slowly realize the larger role she might play, possibly as savior… or possibly as doom, adds this delicious layer of tension to everything.

And can we talk about her fated mates for a second? The bond development in this installment felt deeper, more intimate, more emotionally charged. I’m really hoping the next book gives us even more time with them working as a unit — especially with the war looming and the shadow creatures threatening everything the academy claims to protect.

As for the other “bad dude”? Let’s just say… I’m manifesting consequences. Slow ones. Painful ones. The kind that match the magnitude of betrayal, death, spying, and kidnapping he’s orchestrated. When her mates inevitably learn the full truth about what he did to Shade, I have a feeling the fallout will be spectacular.

Overall, this sequel doesn’t suffer from middle-book syndrome at all. It escalates the danger, deepens the relationships, strengthens the heroine, and keeps the overarching war simmering at a near-boil. It builds beautifully on book one while carving out its own identity.

If you start this book, clear your schedule. You won’t be putting it down.